Zeek Wright is a company dancer with Ballet Arkansas, who I've been fortunate to work with this season. We took some time to go into the studio for some minimalist portraits that I hope manage to capture his talent and fluidity. He is a larger-than-life presence, on-camera and off. I hope you enjoy these. Check out Ballet Arkansas' website for your next opportunity to catch him (and all the other amazingly talented dancers) onstage!
Senior portrait time is here. I had the wonderful pleasure of photographing twin sisters recently, and I want to share some of the images from that session. Even on a cloudy day we still managed to find some nice fall colors. Get in touch with me via my Contact page if you're ready to book your senior session!
The folks at Ballet Arkansas have a theme for their current season: Reborn! They're under the new direction of Michael Fothergill and his wife Catherine, who are already making their mark on this fantastic company with new eyes towards the future. With the new season comes new headshots for everyone, and I am proud to have been chosen for this project. I am so pleased with how they turned out, and with all the other work I'm doing with these folks this year!
In addition to the time I was able to spend doing street photos in New York, I was able and fortunate enough to get to do an entire shoot with the guys from Project 44. They're an incredibly-talented bunch of dancers based in Queens, directed by Gierre Godley (http://www.project44dance.org/). They tour as well as perform in New York; they just finished a show in Baltimore, and will be traveling to Michigan and Missouri soon. We spent a morning in a rehearsal space in the East Village, which was perfect as I wanted to approach the shoot as an exercise in portraiture, rather than simply 'dance photography.' I love conventional dance photography, but I wanted to do something slightly different; I wanted these shots to be about the dancers, more than 'the dance.' I wanted anyone who sees these photos to get a sense of who these guys are individually, and not just how they're able to move. I believe that who a performer is must necessarily inform what that performer does, and so I hoped to capture these guys in an informal setting, letting their personalities shine through. I hoped by doing this, I'd give the viewer a good sense of why they come together the way they do, when they do, and how the whole really is the sum of its parts. I apply this approach to anyone I photograph; if there's a subject involved, I see portraits, more than I see dance, or music, or sports. It's what I find interesting, and I hope you enjoy these photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them. Thanks again to everyone involved!
Squeezed in a bit of a quick trip to New York; it had been a while. Instead of spending most of my time in Manhattan, which I've done in the past, I spent most of this trip in Queens. I have a friend there, and she knew I'd be looking for great opportunities for street photography. To that end, she took me to Jackson Heights, a neighborhood I'd never visited. It's got a large immigrant population, and it shows in the incredible number of ethnic restaurants, seemingly several on every block. I could easily have followed my nose all day, but I managed to keep clicking and come back with some shots I love. So many great faces everywhere I turned. Just for kicks, there's a few architecture shots at the end (and just a couple street portraits from the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge). I hope you enjoy these.
A few snapshots from the Mardi Gras parade on Little Rock's Main Street. Tons of characters, and it couldn't have been a nicer day!
I took another jaunt through Argenta (North Little Rock), this time with a subject, who was amazing to shoot with. We did some fashion (fashion-y?) shots outside while we had a bit of daylight, then ventured indoors to loosen things up a bit. There's a street shot at the end; I'm still trying different things for that upcoming show. From every perspective, she was just fantastic. I hope you enjoy these.
I'm going to be involved in a show in a few weeks, one where several photographers are each documenting a different neighborhood in the Little Rock/North Little Rock area. This was my first walk around the neighborhood I chose to get ready for the show (and my first time shooting there at all in quite a while). It's a great neighborhood where I can stand in one spot and photograph industry, decay, and progress just by turning a few degrees in any direction. Here are some of my shots from my photo walk Sunday afternoon.
These photos show the Italy I went looking for. They're what the photographer in me saw, and simply put, I want to see it all again. These are my favorite shots: the street scenes, the coast, the details. I'll just leave it at that; the real story is in the photos. These will also be available in my Fine Art Prints gallery very soon.
So, I was lucky enough to get to spend a week (or so) in Italy. It was, in fact, the never-ending series of photo-ops I'd always heard about. Traveling during the low season was amazing as far as the absence of other tourists, and I'd do it again the same way. The possible trade was that it was fall in the north, and who knew what the weather might bring. As a photographer, it didn't really matter; I was there for the street scenes (post to follow). But, the tourist in me was a little concerned that I might not get to come home with those shots full of all the amazing colors Italy has that I see again and again. Fortunately, the weather was more than cooperative given the season. We did encounter a few clouds, some fog and haze, but hardly enough to speak of. Anyway, I got the snapshots I wanted, and here they are. This is my playing tourist, I hope you enjoy a little of all that we saw.
This was only supposed to be a test shoot. I was checking some lighting and evaluating a new lens, so we knocked these out in a few minutes. But, after looking at them, I was really, really pleased, thanks to the fantastic subject. She nailed it. I also want to point out that these were done without any styling, and hardly any processing beyond exposure, brightness and contrast. Sometimes it's great to worry about the details, but sometimes it's the lack of worry that leads to something powerful and expressive.
This was a bit of a guerrilla session. The family wanted to shoot outside, and after several warm days, I think we all forgot to check the temperature that Saturday. It had dropped considerably... So we did what we could before the icicles set in, then raced indoors, quickly got a backdrop up, and finished the day. It all seemed to work out, and we made the Thanksgiving deadline!
